The Connection We Share
by Jewell Trim
Summary: No one knows how it happened, why, or for how long... but the connection they share is there and they'll just have to deal with it


**A/N: So I came up with this while writing another story. Just a little drabble.**

 **Don't own the boys.**

 **If anyone wants to put some history and take this plot out for a spin, be my guest.**

All they knew was that it was a curse that happened one day…

Chris was walking down the boardwalk, when he spotted Vin further down. He gave a nod to the bounty hunter before it happened. The only way Vin could describe it was that Chris had been suddenly punched by an invisible force and fell into the street. At first he laughed, thinking it was a joke, but the stunned gunslinger was slow to rise and was nearly trampled by a horseman. Vin ran off the boardwalk and called to Chris.

Chris, dazed, looked up to see a horse almost on top of him. Suddenly, he wasn't under it anymore. Pulled to his feet, he looked around, confused as to who had grabbed him. He saw Vin running towards him still.

"The hell just happened." He demanded.

"Hell if I know. One minute things were normal then you flew. After that, it looked like someone just straight picked you up and—"

Vin didn't finish explaining what he saw before Chris doubled over as if he was punched in the stomach.

"Chris? Chris, you alright there, cowboy?"

"What's happening?" Chris grunted in pain.

Down the street Buck and JD were hauling two men out of an alley and were followed by Nathan and Josiah carrying a slumped over Ezra.

"Buck, what happened?" Vin asked, as he and Chris walked over to their friends. Chris was still holding his stomach.

"These two bastards decided to jump Ezra after losing to him in a game of poker."

"He cheated!" came one of the men's argument.

Ezra's head finally fell to his chest and he lost consciousness. Vin was about to defend his friend when he saw from the corner of his eye, Chris beginning to fall. He was able to keep the gunslinger from hitting his head on the way down, but the man was out cold.

"Did Chris just faint?" asked JD in astonishment.

"He was acting strange a little while before you all appeared. Looked like he was taking a beating…by something."

"Something?" asked Buck.

"Bring him up to the clinic too. I'll look him over." Nathan instructed.

The healer worked on his two patients and tried to ignore the other man's presence in the room.

"You know you don't have to stay Vin."

"Something was off about Chris."

"Yeah, you said. Hovering ain't gonna do anything though."

Nathan said in exasperation as he finally removed the shirts off Chris after doing the same to Ezra.

Vin frowned and leaned forward.

"Vin." Nathan warned.

"Don't those bruises look awfully similar?"

Nathan looked at the burises to Ezra's abdomen and then Chris's. They did look similar. Hell, they looked identical! Even the bruises on their cheeks were the same.

"How do you suppose that happened?" Nathan shook his head in wonder.

"When I saw Chris before it happened, everything looked normal. Then he suddenly was knocked off his feet as if he was clocked in the face. After that he was pulled to his feet by the back of his collar by something I couldn't even see. He then doubled over if he were punched in the stomach."

"You're telling me, he was attacked by some invisible attacker?"

Vin shrugged, "Just telling you what I saw… and didn't see."

The next day both men woke up and went their separate ways. Vin kept a curious eye on Chris to see if anything else strange happened, but nothing did. Ezra didn't seem to know what had transpired and so the others didn't burden him with what had gone on. It wasn't until a rowdy bunch came in, tearing up the saloon with drunken chaos. Fist flew as the seven tried to stop the brawl. Ezra caught a flying elbow in the nose and gasped in pain, holding it. A chair was swung behind him and he hit across the head. Stumbling to keep himself upright, Ezra continued to hold his nose.

"Chris! Chris you alright?" called Buck who had seen the gunslinger go down to one knee for some strange reason. He was holding his nose in one hand and the back of his head with the other. The man he had been fighting looked confused by the sudden turn of the tables, but attempted to take Chris out nonetheless. Buck grabbed him by the collar and pulled him away so he could get to his old friend. "You alright, Hoss?"

"My nose." Chris mumbled from under his hand.

"Just keep to the side and we'll finish up here." Buck said before returning to the fight.

Chris looked through the fight, looking for the others. Ezra seemed to be stunned on the ground, not moving. Pushing himself to his feet, Chris tried to make his way over to him. It wouldn't do for the man with his guard down to be in the middle of all of this.

"Ezra." He called out before someone slammed into him and he was knocked out of the saloon.

Ezra felt like he was pulled towards the ground by some kind of force and was being pinned there. The air had been knocked out of him and he sat there stunned. From what he could tell there was nothing on him, but he couldn't get up.

Chris fought the man off of him, finally getting him off. Gasping for a lung-full of air, he pushed himself up. Looking around, feeling light headed, he tried to place where the gambler was at. Amidst the scuffle of boots, Ezra was on the ground in a daze. He looked like he was about to get stepped on any minute.

That was it. Chris pulled his gun out and shot it into the ground. Everyone stopped to look at him.

"Get the hell out of my town, before I make you leave."

The faces of the instigators all paled and they quickly left the establishment and then the town.

Ezra slowly got to his feet with the help of Josiah.

"Who was able to get a hit on you Chris?" asked Josiah, surprised Chris was injured. From what he had seen of the fight while he wasn't preoccupied, Chris was winning.

"Dunno. Didn't see it happen." Chris said, carefully touching his swollen nose.

"Ezra, you alright?" asked Vin, checking the man over.

"Just the daily indignities I usually suffer. That and a busted nose I think. Someone hit me over the head. I don't know how I wound up on the ground. Couldn't get up either."

"Looks like it ain't just Chris then who is affected." Vin marveled.

"What do you mean by affected?"

"Same wounds, same strange force. Somehow you two share the same injuries. What one feels, the other does too. They just don't know how."

"Surely you aren't serious." Ezra coughed.

"Chris had your same injuries when you were attacked in the alley."

"So how does that work?" Buck frowned. "I mean if one gets killed the other one dies too? And is it just injuries?"

"So far that's what it looks like." Nathan sighed, not liking this. "I noticed some weird stuff happening while they were both resting after the attack. They were completely in sync. Their breathing and heartrate."

"Creepy." JD's eyes got huge in wonder.

"How do we stop it?" Chris growled.

"We don't know what's caused it." Nathan shrugged.

"I have no idea." Vin shook his head.

"Great, so we have no idea how bad this is going to be, or how long it will last." Chris huffed. He turned sharply on Ezra, "Stay out of trouble until they can figure something out."

"Why do you assume it will be me to be the one who gets into trouble?" Ezra arched an eyebrow.

"Because you do."

Weeks passed and more things became apparent. Sleeping habits slowly became synced and small habits paired up. Chris would be talking to Buck while they were walking together when he'd suddenly tip his hat to some imaginary person. Across the street Ezra would be greeting a group of women before moving on. Chris would be sitting at his table drinking when he'd suddenly stop and his hands would move rapidly as if he were shuffling a deck of cards. Ezra would be on the other side of the room playing a game. It became too frustrating for the gunslinger that he decided to test what he could make Ezra do. He got himself drunk as much as possible and accepted a woman's invitation for the night. If Ezra suddenly was out of breath and was aroused for no apparent reason while walking pass the boarding house, he wasn't going to admit to it. Though several people saw him covering up his groin with his hat as he walked to the saloon quickly. At dinner, Chris decided he would try Inez's hottest chili peppers. He was pretty good at handling the heat, but he knew Ezra couldn't. Ezra complained for days after that.

The continued to prank each other until both were exhausted.

"It's like watch a sadist and masochist all in one." Nathan shook his head.

"Didn't know they could act like that, brother?"

"Chris, yes. Ezra purposefully drenching himself in cold water in the middle of the night, no."

"Probably because Chris purposefully trigger his own allergic reaction to goose feathers." Josiah laughed.

"He was sneezing for hours and breaking out! That was plain stupid!" Nathan snapped in annoyance.

"Yeah but watching Ezra continue to sneeze and scratch at himself was pretty funny you have to admit." Buck chuckled as he arrived to hear their conversation.

"I'm sure that when the time comes and it's a fight, they will be extra careful to take care of themselves and the other." Josiah smiled.


End file.
